Erised
by El Leon Y La Oveja
Summary: One summer, Gellert Grindelwald comes to Godric's Hollow and meets the brilliant  and teenage  Albus Dumbledore. Both boys find each other fascinating but could there be more than friendship there? Albus POV, implied slash if you squint. One-shot for now.


You're sat on a rock, in the shade of the willow tree. I am reading, stretched out in the sunlight. We are seventeen and we're going to change the world.

The stream rushes fiercely. Your wand is casually pointed at the water, causing a trail of bubbles to rise from the surface and dance in the air. You're smirking slightly, revelling in the freedom that comes with being seventeen.

My eyes are mostly on the book in my hands but my mind is entirely focussed on you. In two weeks, you've changed my life, my plans, my thoughts. I've never met anyone as fascinating as you and from what you've said, you haven't met anyone who understands you like I do.

My brother doesn't like you. I've tried to talk him round, to make him see sense. He doesn't have ambition like we do, nor does he long to leave this village and see the world. The only place he's ever been, aside from home, is Hogwarts and during the year, he's always anxious to return to Godric's Hollow. I've never understood that. I would have left the country months ago, had I not been faced with responsibilities here. Responsibilities which, I could not have ignored. My friends and classmates took their own journeys and I stayed. I wanted to leave more than anyone yet I stayed.

Now, I'm glad that I did. You've shown me more than I would have seen, had I completed my world tour with my school friends. You remind me of myself and your ideas echo everything that I've ever wondered but been reluctant to voice out loud.

Sometimes, I see a glint of something in your eyes and I'm not sure that I recognise it. It's not excitement. I know exactly how the corners of your mouth turn up when you're excited and how you don't blink, just stare into the distance as if you can actually see into the future that we're discussing. It's not excitement but something new. I occasionally wonder if there's more to your plans than you share with me but I'm in too far to back out now. Working together, the two of us could do this. We could make these dreams a reality. This is our chance to change the world.

Now, you glance over at me and I pretend to be reading again. I've already got the page memorised but I'd rather you didn't catch me staring. We might be best friends and the missing pieces of each other's puzzle but there's one secret that you still don't know and I doubt you ever will.

You've gone back to watching the stream again. I've gone back to watching you. Sometimes when I look at you like this, I feel something that isn't friendship, pride, admiration or a slight and undeniable envy. I feel all those emotions too but this is different. When I look at my siblings and remember my parents, there's something strong and painful but normal. This, I cannot describe. I think I may know what I'm feeling and that, my friend, is precisely the reason why I could never reveal that particular secret. Once or twice, you glance back at me and I could swear that you're thinking the same thing. Until you turn around and I'm the only one left breathless and unsure.

Whatever I have time for at this point in my life, it's definitely not this. I can't fall in love.

So, I'll convince myself otherwise. It was you who told me that I had a brilliant mind which could achieve anything. I'll admire your courage, your ambition, your intelligence, your calm and carefree attitude and your determination. I'll recognise the fact that you're handsome, that your blonde hair perfectly matches the slight tan that you've acquired in England. I'll shiver internally and something in my chest will respond frantically whenever you speak my name. I'll keep this knowledge to myself and answer you calmly when all I'm thinking is how I'd love to lean over and brush that annoying curl of hair out of your eyes. I refused to drink the Firewhisky you brought the other night. I turned my back when you took off your wet shirt after climbing out of the stream. I'm trying to prevent myself from thinking about kissing you, even though my mind is being unusually unresponsive.

You're sat on a rock, in the shade of the willow tree. I am reading, stretched out in the sunlight. We are seventeen and we're going to change the world.

Whatever false emotions my mind might conjure up, I am not in love with my best friend.

_We are seventeen and we're going to change the world… _


End file.
